Sunburnt Baby Allowed Home With His Mum

A mother whose baby was left with terrible burns after being exposed to the hot sun for several hours on Brighton beach has been allowed to take him home.

Social workers questioned the woman, according to the Daily Mirror, but decided she could keep the baby.

The newspaper says that the 29-year-old mother was visited by social workers a few hours after her five-month-old boy left hospital.

He had been treated for 40% burns to his body after being taken to Brighton beach on Sunday.

Witnesses told the Mirror that the blonde mum drank beer and ignored people who asked her to cover up the baby as temperatures reached 25C.

An ambulance took the baby to hospital after police community support officers intervened.

A council spokesman in Hammersmith, West London, where the woman lives, told the Mirror: "The baby has been allowed to stay with its mother at this stage. There will be an investigation and assessment."

Sussex Police told the BBC that the baby was "doing fine" after being released from the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Police are reportedly investigating the case, but no arrests have been made.

Insp David Derrick told the BBC that police were working with the local council to consider any child protection concerns.

A burns specialist from The Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) in East Grinstead, West Sussex told the BBC that the baby's injuries could have been potentially life-threatening.

Consultant Baljit Dheansa said the baby's skin showed signs of blistering, and this could lead to the loss of body fluids, which in a five-month-old baby could lead to dehydration, low blood pressure and kidney failure.

The mother in this case has already received a huge amount of abuse in the media - there's bound to be an outcry if no action is taken against her.